Do you have the intense desire and drive to achieve your "Wildest Dreams" and are you looking to gain a competitive edge towards the most selective colleges and universities?!
Then get nominated and apply to the prestigious, award-winning, and nationally acclaimedSummer Business and Leadership Institute (SBLI)
and become a great LEADER NOW™!!!
ABL will ONLY ACCEPT ONE SCHOLAR PER SCHOOL for the 2016 SBLI
Enrollment is on a first-come first-served basis once a scholar is accepted
Applications are by invitation only
The 2016 SBLI application process has already begun!
For SBLI program information, please click here..

About ABL

History and Mission

The results-oriented mission of ABL is to inspire, educate, and expand the educational and
career goals of mostly high-potential low-opportunity students through practical and experiential
education, with a focus on business, financial investment and literacy, entrepreneurial training,
social entrepreneurial training and transformational leadership development. ABL primarily
targets students who have been recognized by their counselors and school administrators as
having high-unrealized potential. In a nurturing, loving, and supportive environment, and
through integration in a college setting, hands-on exposure to business fundamentals, and
interaction with the movers and shakers of corporate and civic America, ABL's ultimate goal
is two fold 1) to teach our scholars how to acquire the mindset of the most successful leaders;
how to champion themselves; and how to build a large, powerful, and supportive network of
lifelong champions and mentors who will be vested in their personal success every step of the
way in order to help them achieve their seemingly impossible dreams, and subsequently become
a champion for others; thus, giving back by paying it forward and 2) to give all our students a
10-to-20 year head start, inspiring them to see themselves as Leaders NOW? who will rise to
become the future conscious, conscientious & transformational corporate, entrepreneurial, social
entrepreneurial, philanthropic, and civic leaders of America & the world, while inculcating in
them the value of Giving Back NOW™.

Though originally founded in 1991 by Rick Yamamotto, then Manager of Investments at
Southern California Edison where ABL is proudly housed, the current ABL philosophy,
methodology, vision, and mission are inspired by the personal journey of triumph over
adversity of the ABL Refounder, President & CEO from orphanages in war-torn Lebanon.
Anna Ouroumian assumed the helm of ABL in 1998. Under her leadership, ABL attempts to
address the root cause of the mindset of poverty regardless of one's socio-economic background
to unleash the potential of youth to fulfill their destiny and make a difference in the world by
implementing rigorous value-based experiential and academic business and transformational
leadership programs that go Beyond Skills™. The original mission of ABL was to provide
educational training and mentoring to increase the number of minority applicants for investment
positions in corporate America. Since 1998, under the current leadership, the scope of the
organization has evolved and dramatically expanded to involve more opportunities for the
participating students.

In 1998, in her early twenties, Anna Ouroumian was hired to turn around the struggling
organization. Using her personal story of overcoming tremendous odds as an orphan survivor
from war-torn Beirut who came to the US alone with only $160 as a young teenager as a
backdrop to the limitless potential of the human spirit, Anna completely reinvented the ABL
vision, mission, philosophy, and its teaching methodology. As a visionary leader, through her
creative, strategic, and forward-thinking leadership style, and through the extensive partnerships
and collaborations that she developed, Anna has catapulted the organization to new heights. She
has completely shifted the focus of ABL by centering its vision on "building a movement of
fulfilled, prosperous, and transformational youth Leaders NOW™ for long term sustainability
in America and the world." By harnessing the talent of underserved and high potential youth
to see themselves as "Leaders NOW™", they can start making a difference in the world today
while uplifting themselves, and they will rise to become the future conscious, conscientious,
and transformational corporate, entrepreneurial, social entrepreneurial, philanthropic, and
civic leaders of America and the globe, through access and exposure at the highest levels, her
Leadership Now™ philosophy and seven anchoring core values, entrepreneurial and financial
literacy training, leadership development, and social entrepreneurship training.

Here is a list of some of her accomplishments to date as ABL’s Refounder, President and CEO:

Tripled ABL in size

Completely revamped the curriculum, logo, and marketing materials

Created new programs and enhanced existing ones

Launched special events and gala fundraisers such as the Annual Commencement and Awards Banquet and the ABL Crystal Globe Awards

Created and recruited a corporate advisory board,

Recruited over 7,000 volunteers to impact the lives of thousands of youth

Graduated in 14 years alone over 2,900 primarily underserved students out of 3,300 total students since 1991 who came from 491 elementary, middle, and high schools and over 176 school districts in Southern California

Created and delivered Prosperity Building & Empowerment workshops to over 100,000 elementary, middle, and high school students throughout Southern California.

Anna Ouroumian’s vision is to take ABL national and provide this opportunity to every student who needs it.